The U.S. Navy is going to boost the submarine fleet, as the way to counter the possible aggression of a powerful naval adversary. The National Interest wrote the article on the issue.
'The Navy hopes to increase its current submarine construction op-tempo and build as many as three Virginia-class submarines per year to more rapidly address the services’ attack submarine deficit. The previous status quo had been for the Navy to drop from building two Virginia-Class boats per year to one in the early 2020s when construction of the new Columbia-Class nuclear-armed submarines begins. The service then moved to a plan to build two Virginia-class submarines and one Columbia-class submarine concurrently, according to findings from a Navy assessment,' reads the article.
'Navy leaders have consistently talked about an expected submarine shortfall in the mid-2020s and that more attack submarines were needed to strengthen the fleet and keep stay in front of near-peer rivals such as Russia and China.This assessment reinforces findings from a completed comprehensive Navy analysis last year, which found that producing more Virginia-Class attack submarines on a much faster timetable is "achievable" and necessary,' the story goes on.
Read the full article here.